Why the double standard on climate change research?

In his letter of Jan. 8, 2019, Jeremy Conlin accuses authors of a research paper on ocean warming of “incompetence,” even though they acknowledged and corrected a mistake in the paper within two weeks of publication. Yet he continues to cite an inaccurate graph (not updated for six years) to support his fallacious argument that there is no historical correlation between atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global warming. Why the double standard?

In the same letter, Mr. Conlin criticizes me for not documenting the source of an article I cited in my letter of Dec. 16, 2018. He incorrectly traced the article to one written by Jackie Snow for Hakai magazine. In fact, I did document my source. I submitted the citation to the Bee as follows: “‘Climate change is making hurricanes even more destructive, research finds’ at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.theguardian.com&d=DwIDaQ&c=V6RwJ6H35feIEOPTfw4cSA&r=48EnQ_-qQ5DvTQDcemO5XVgNlZ70ly7qT_opx30H4OyjpZk5oqabCIZrhk1vUgYz&m=gDIiwSmvgvG48avpzVaWefjIYh6q70YPTFndsps9_Hk&s=FxLobBNgAkMlQmYVUdsu7MpiK5wvfiNTs47PMxR1EP4&e= .” The editor of the Bee changed the URL to https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__bit.ly_2Cf95zjh&d=DwIDaQ&c=V6RwJ6H35feIEOPTfw4cSA&r=48EnQ_-qQ5DvTQDcemO5XVgNlZ70ly7qT_opx30H4OyjpZk5oqabCIZrhk1vUgYz&m=gDIiwSmvgvG48avpzVaWefjIYh6q70YPTFndsps9_Hk&s=D2Fhi6Li_KGiS-xHG97c_iTgbo_dkQnYI5vw_2BC-Po&e= in the published letter. This appears to have caused Mr. Conlin’s confusion about my source.

The article I referenced was published in the Guardian by Oliver Milman on Nov. 14, 2018. As stated in my introductory statement to this citation, recent research has shown that hurricane related rainfall is increasing in intensity resulting in more serious flooding. This increase results from the higher ocean temperatures that are associated with climate change.

Mr. Conlin opines, “discretion is advised.” That is particularly noteworthy regarding statements made by those who don’t know all the facts.

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